Utah beauty pageant winner booked for throwing home-made bombs
Contestants (L-R) Aisha Valy of Reunion Island, Natalia Pereverzeva of Russia, and Sara Pender of Scotland pose for photographers during a press presentation of the Miss Earth beauty pageant at a hotel in Manila on November 6, 2012.
The recently crowned Miss Riverton, Utah appears to have had another special talent beyond her piano skills: making and throwing home-made bombs.
Kendra McKenzie Gill recently won a $2,000 scholarship after she took first price in Riverton's local June 8th pageant, exhibiting her piano skills with a Scott Joplin number, wrote the Associated Press.
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Things took a stranger turn for the 18-year-old beauty queen when she was arrested with three friends on August 3rd, accused of lobbing home-made bombs at both houses and people in her neighborhood, wrote KSL.com.
No one was injured in the incident, which the teenagers described as a mere prank — and which local authorities are taking much more seriously.
KSL reports that the bombs appear to have been crafted from plastic water bottles, aluminum, and dangerous chemical substances, which when ignited can cause an explosive reaction that can "sever limbs."
"They were throwing them at both property and people," said Unified Fire Authority Capt. Clint Mecham to KUTV. "This goes well beyond a teenage prank."
“This is not your average kid blowing up a mailbox,” he added, according to KDVR.com. “These devices, they have the power to create a fair amount of damage. They can maim or kill a person.”
All four youngsters, including Gill, have been booked into the Salt Lake City County Jail on ten counts each of setting off an incendiary device, added KUTV. KSL.com adds that all four have since been released on bond, as investigators look for a potential motive beyond mean-spirited humor.
Gill stated after she won the 2013 Miss Riverton pageant that her platform would be "Fit to be you" during her tenure, and would focus on exercise and accepting one's own body type.
“Whether it’s Zumba or walking, whatever feels right. It doesn’t have to be an expensive gym to make you feel good and feel good about your body,” she reflected to the South Valley Journal in June.